Saturday, 4 June 2016

The Measure of a Man Review

The film that won Vincent Lindon the Best Actor award at Cannes in 2015 is finally released in UK cinemas this weekend. The Measure of a Man is a challenging watch, but worth the effort. Here's a snippet of my review:

Last year in Cannes, it was Marion Cotillard and the Dardennes
brothers examining contemporary workplace relations in Two Days, One
Night. That razor sharp, but repetitive critique of the ills of modern
corporate practices is bested this year by The Measure of a Man which
finds its unemployed protagonist facing a moral dilemma when he finds a
new job working in shop security.

We meet 51 year old Thierry mid
conversation at the job centre, frustrated by the pointless course he
has recently wasted his time completing in order to find that there are
no jobs waiting for him at the end of it. Along with his wife, Thierry
has a disabled son who he wants to put through further education. Money
is tight, and after meeting with his bank manager, Thierry grows
increasingly desperate to find employment. After rejections, humiliation
and disappointment, he finds work in surveillance and security at a
supermarket. But when required to spy on his fellow workers, Thierry may
be pushed to act in opposition to his morals.